Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Soviet Stalinetz Tractor Drove into the Wall

This picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Koster on 16 October 1941 at Uman (Ukraine) and show a Russian Heavy Tractor Stalinez - ChTZ S-60 with an 152-mm howitzer M1938 (M-10) gun in its stowed position, drove into the wall of a village house after its crew was killed by attacking German troops. Widely unknown, the Russian tractor industry which later in war almost completely switched to tank production was erected with massive American assistance in the late 20s and early 30s of the last century. The young communist state had such an urgent need for agricultural machines that many of the so-called "Tractor Zavod" were established nationwide, among those the Chelyabinskii Traktornyi Zavod imeni Stalina (ChTZ). "Stalinetz" (The son of Stalin) S-60 produced from 1933-1937 and was a copy of the Caterpillar 60, fitted with a 4-cyl. 60 hp. petrol engine yielding a max speed of only 6 km/h and hence making the S-60 an easy prey for the German blitz.